PMP Exam Super Simulator by PM Master Prep [Review]

I wrote a review about the book titled PMP Exam Master Prep by Scott Payne.

In this review, we are going to look at the PMP Exam Simulator provided by the same team.

You have two options if you are interested in getting their Exam Simulator

1. PMP Exam Simulator and
2. PMP Super Simulator

What do you get as part of these two products? Let us see the products in detail.

Features of PMP Exam Simulator

The features of PMP Exam Simulator are listed below:

1. Tests by Process group – 20 questions in each process group
2. Tests by Knowledge area – 10 questions in each knowledge area
3. Exam simulator – Full-length mock exam containing 200 questions

All the questions for the practice tests/ mock exams are being selected from a pool of 1400+ questions (I am unable to verify the total number of questions; this is as reported in their website).

Features of PMP Super Simulator

The PMP Super Simulator includes all the features of the PMP Exam Simulator; in addition, it provides PMP Study Resources. The features of the Super Simulator are listed below:

1. Tests by Process group – 20 questions in each process group
2. Tests by Knowledge area – 10 questions in each knowledge area
3. Exam simulator – Full-length mock exam containing 200 questions
4. Study resources
   • PM One-View^TM
   • ITTO Inspector^TM
   • Formulas and Calculations
   • 25 case study videos
   • Glossary, Forum, Group and Private Chat

All the questions for the practice tests/ mock exams are being selected from a pool of 1400+ questions.

Now, let us go through the various features available in the PMP Exam Simulator and the PMP Super Simulator, one by one.

Overall View

When you log in to the system, you get a simple, minimal and clean interface. It is not cluttered with too many elements. The test links are provided neat and tidy on the right-hand side bar. I liked the minimal use of colors.

Tests by Process Group

You can take practice tests by process group. Each test contains 20 questions; and you have to finish the test in 24 minutes.

Tests by Knowledge area

You can take practice tests by knowledge area. Each test contains 10 questions; and you have to finish the test in 12 minutes.

PMP Exam Simulator

The exam simulator is a full-length mock exam, comprising 200 questions. The time allotted is 4 hours. So, it mimics the real PMP exam.

Assessment of the Quality of the Practice Questions

I have randomly sampled the questions by taking some practice tests by process group, some practice tests by knowledge area and the full-length exam simulator. Please note that I have not gone through the entire test/ mock exam. My assessment is based on the questions that I came across during the trials I have taken.

The questions are of good quality. The questions test your understanding of the various concepts dealt with in the PMBOK Guide.

I get frustrated looking at some of the online exams that purposely make the exam look tougher. However, I feel the practice questions by PM Master Prep are at the right level of difficulty.

The few ITTO questions I came across were well thought-out questions. They did not test my memory skills; but, it tested my understanding of what really happens in a process. It also tested whether I could differentiate between what is an input/ output and what is a tool/ technique.

The situational questions are written well. It tested my decision-making skills for a given scenario.

The situational questions also included questions on ethics and professional conduct.

I did not come across too many numerical questions. Either that is intentional, as generally the actual exam does not focus too much on numerical questions. Or, may be my sample size was too small. I am not sure.

To summarize, I liked the questions and strongly believe that the practice questions will prepare you well for the actual exam.

Practice Test/ Mock exam interface

The test interface is neat and clean.

The title shows the knowledge area/ process group you are taking the test on.

Below the title are tiny boxes showing the question numbers. You can navigate the test by clicking on the numbers. These boxes also provide visual clue of your progress in the test.

• white background shows you are yet to answer the question
• blue background shows that you have answered the question
• orange background shows that you have marked the question for review
• white background with a blue border shows the current question you are working on

Below each question, you have four buttons

• Next Question (you can move to the next question in the test by clicking this button)
• Flag For Review (you can mark any question for review; you can do either without selecting an answer or after selecting an answer. Once you click the button, the tiny box at the top changes to orange color indicating the question is marked for review. The button also changes from “Flag for review” to “Unflag review”).
• Check Answer
• Submit Test

You need not wait for the entire test to finish to find the answer to a specific question. You can click the “Check answer button to find out the answer immediately. It highlights the correct answer in green color and also provides a description below. If you have selected a wrong answer, the wrong answer will be highlighted in pink color).

Once you submit the test, you get your score for the test. You also get a performance score by process group/ domain. Based on your performance, the simulator also provides a recommendation like

• need significant improvement,
• average understanding and
• strong understanding

How to check your past performance?

One good aspect of the simulator is it captures all your test performances, irrespective of whether you take the tests by process group or tests by knowledge area or a full-length mock exam.

However, it is not obvious where the information is stored. You can check your past performance by following the steps given below:

1. Mouse over your name that is displayed at the top right corner of the web page
2. Click “My Account”
3. You will see a link “PMP^® Exam Simulator”. Do you see a small arrow (like a triangle) to the left of the link? Click on the arrow. Don’t click on the link.
4. Alternatively, you can click on the “Expand All” link.

You get a summary of all the tests you have taken in the past. It shows the type of test you have taken, the date when you have taken the test and the score obtained.

You can also check the details of each test by clicking the link under the “Statistics” column. It shows the questions, answer choices, your chosen option, the correct option and time taken to answer the question.

You will certainly find this feature useful as this is a good indicator of your progress over time.

PM One-View^TM

What is this PM One-View^TM?

I clicked the link and it showed the 49 processes, grouped by process groups and the knowledge areas.

So what? I can get this matrix from the PMBOK Guide itself. What is so special about it?

Yes, you are right. The interesting part is I can click on any of the 49 processes. Each of them is a link.

If I click the link, it opens the Inputs, Tools & Techniques and Outputs of the respective process. It also displays the description and the key benefit of the process.

Not only that. You can click on any of the Inputs, Tools and Techniques or Outputs. It displays the description of that particular element.

So, PM One-View helps you to look at the 49 processes in one view; then you can choose to look at one of the processes and you can zoom in to one of the elements of the ITTOs of that particular process. Awesome, isn’t it?

ITTO Inspector^TM

I personally don’t see any major difference between the PM One-View and the ITTO Inspector. It’s just a different way of looking at the same information.

Formulas and Calculations

This section provides a compilation of all the important formulae needed for the PMP exam. The formula is displayed, along with the result interpretation. You can also view the definition of the term and an example that shows the application of the given formula.

Though most of the concepts are covered, I believe it needs to include few more concepts like free float and expected monetary value.

Earned Value Management (EVM) Calculator

A calculator is provided to calculate the EVM values like Schedule variance, Cost variance, Schedule performance index, Cost performance index, Estimate to complete, Estimate at completion and To-complete performance index.

You just have to enter the basic information like Planned value, Earned value, Actual cost and Budget at completion; the calculator does the calculation and shows you the result.

This might be useful if you are trying some EVM examples of your own and want to check your results quickly.

Glossary

The glossary is very comprehensive and I believe it includes all the terms used in the PMBOK Guide.

Templates

Project management templates are provided, which may be useful for you to understand the various outputs referred in the PMBOK Guide.

You may also use these templates for your real-life project. Since these templates are prepared in MS-Excel, you can download and easily use it in your projects.

Case Study Videos

You will find 25 videos focusing on the case study (I have explained in detail about the case study in the book review). You may also watch all these videos in YouTube.

I am providing one video below, for reference:

Forum, group and private chat

A forum is included as part of the PMP Super Simulator. It is not very active, at the moment.

But the group and private chats are active. I believe the authors are getting actively involved in conversations with the candidates.

Video on PM Master Prep’s System

Hear from Scott Payne on his PM Master Prep system. He feels that the system is more than just an exam simulator. Watch the video to understand how you can use the PM Master Prep’s system to gain maximum benefits from it.

Conclusion

I tried to cover every aspect of the PMP Exam Simulator/ PMP Super Simulator.

I recommend the PM Master Prep’s exam simulator for the candidates who are preparing for the exam.

Those who are interested in supplementing the practice questions with study resources may consider the Super Simulator.

If you have any queries on the simulator, please feel free to leave your queries in the comments below.

If you have used the simulator, how do you feel? Did it meet your expectations? What are the positives? What can be improved? Your views are most welcome.